Who are the Dalits?

The word Dalit emerges from the root of ‘dal’, which indicates a split or a fissure. Dalits are the group of people in the history who are cut away from the mainstream of society. The segregation is not on the basis of economic status, but on the basis of blood, which they inherit at birth and on the basis of ritual purity. Dalits are called differently in various states of India. In Kerala they were known by name Pulayas and Parayas. They were kept outside the caste system and were considered that they were destined to do all mean jobs. The belief was that as the jobs they were given were not clean so the beings also were impure. As the names denote they had not been ascribed to a humane treatment in history. Theirs was a history of oppression from birth. It was the British who gave the name scheduled caste to denote a depressed class. Gandhi called them Harijans to recognize them as children of God.

Strictly speaking Dalits do not belong to caste structure though it is quiet often conceived that they are low caste people. They were outside the caste system nor did they belong to any religion. They are the original inhabitants of the land with unique identity, culture and traditions. They have a history of social backwardness, which continues to prevail even today and we find them condemned to the margins due to several reasons. Measures in the form of reservations to save them from the deprivation of economic and educational advancement and to lead a dignified life have not brought forth the desired effect, primarily due to various forms of oppression from dominant sections existing in our social setting.

The society hesitates to offer an affirmative uplifting hand as a solution. We speak of equal rights of every citizen. The real social scenario is different. They struggle hard to come out of the captivity of occupational structures into which they are born. They are the people who have to do the menial and mortifying jobs. They cannot crush the bondage of debt and cycle of poverty. Dalit Christians are discriminated in reservations and denied of scheduled caste privilege in spite of all constitutional guarantees for backward castes to raise them to the main stream of society. The argument for such discrimination is that Christian religion is caste-free. Embracing a religion is not the final solution for enhancing the socio-economic status; and the social infirmities and deprivations are found among all converted Dalits irrespective of the religion they embraced.

The presence of Dalits in reputed positions, institutions and firms is bare minimum compared to their population strength. Equality, liberty and freedom is not monopoly of any sect but all the Indian citizens and such conviction shall be rooted in the minds of the Dalits. Where is the real socialization in Dalit involved communities? How many non-Dalit families accept partners from Dalit families in marriage? How many non-Dalit families have strong neighborhood relation with neighboring Dalit families? These are the questions demanding answers even after six decades of independence of India.